Etivity 9-2

1.    What, if anything, surprised or challenged your preconceptions in this topic?

I have long believed that interactive learning is the best method. Everything I have read in this topic has confirmed that. The theories of motivation such as the ARC model (Keller, 2008, p.82) made me think. I had not considered attention, relevance or confidence as motivators before, but it does make sense. The motivation of gaming was an eye-opener. I was aware of people being addicted to games, but had not considered why or how this could be transferred to online learning. I was also very interested in the comparison of someone multitasking while participating in an online lesson with someone else being totally absorbed in a virtual world (O’Driscoll and Kapp, 2010).

2.    Were there any ideas presented which altered your vision of what instructional design might look like in the future?

I was very impressed by McGonigal’s (2010) talk at the TED conference and an interview (Zetter, 2010) I read. Gaming seems like the answer to all the world’s problems! With the expansion of the Internet and more capabilities in the digital world, I am sure that many of the features used in online games will be integrated into online learning.

Instructional design will make more use of virtual worlds and simulations. TAFE NSW Western Institute (2010) uses the virtual world to teach hospitality. This is an example of what can be achieved in a virtual world. There would appear to be endless opportunities to use virtual worlds to recreate situations to teach and practise practical skills where training in the workplace may be problematic. Computer modelling could be used to simulate car engines or human body parts for people to practice on.

3.    Try to describe what vision you feel your organisation might have for training and development activities in the year 2020. Try to be optimistic but at the same time realistic.

I believe the management at TAFE would like to have minimal numbers of human teachers, so most training will be offered online. Even courses with a high proportion of practical elements will be presented online. Simulations and virtual worlds will make this possible. There will also be more collaboration online and greater use of tools which can share desktops and pages. Use of social media is already increasing in many course areas. Flexible delivery is the way of the future. This is more than just having coursework available online. It is also about meeting the students’ needs for where, when and how they study. This means more training may take place in the workplace and a lot of recognition of prior learning will be applied, as well as training on-demand. There will certainly be less traditional classrooms, and the teachers within will most likely not be doing the “chalk and talk”. Students will be involved in creating their own learning.

References

Keller, J. 2008 An integrative theory of motivation, volition and performance. Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning. Vol 6. 79-104.

McGonigal, J. 2010 Gaming can make a better world. TED talk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM#at=33

(transcript) http://dotsub.com/view/87e58675-24ba-408b-abbe-97718a3b17b5/viewTranscript/eng

O'Driscoll, T & Kapp, K. (2010) Escaping Flatland. Learning in 3D. Wiley, San Francisco.

TAFE NSW Western Institute (2010)The virtual tourism project. (online accessed 26 July 2013).

Zetter, K. (2010) TED 2010: Reality Is Broken. Game Designers Must Fix It. Wired (online retrieved 21 July 2013)

http://www.wired.com/business/2010/02/jane-mcgonigal/

Etivity 9-1

In Etivity 1.1, I said I was looking forward to this course to fill in the gaps and offer some new ideas. I also expressed a desire to create interactive and instructive learning material. I have not been disappointed. I have enjoyed the journey, learning about instructional design, learning styles as applied to online learning, motivation and many more tools which can be used to create learning material. Importantly much of the learning has been ‘practise what you preach’. It began with the virtual icebreaker on our blog, as suggested by Anderson (2004, p.36). We have been immersed in an interactive, collaborative learning with blogs, 2^nd life, problem solving tasks and synchronous chat. The benefits of all of these have been discussed in the learning material as important to include in online learning. As Conrad and Donaldson (2004, p.9) say, interaction is central in constructivism learning. We have not only read the theories but experienced them as well. I have certainly enjoyed the learning experience and look forward to using what I have learnt and practised in developing my own learning material.

Anderson T. 2004 Toward a theory of online learning in T. Anderson and F. Elloumi (eds) Theory and practice of online learning. Accessed 23 July 2013.

http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/index.html

Conrad, R. & Donaldson, J.A. 2004 Engaging the online learner: resources for creative instruction. Jossey-Bass. (online. Retrieved 22 July 2013)

http://eltandtech.pbworks.com/f/engaging+the+online+learner.pdf

Etivity 8-2

1.      What experience have you had personally in managing instructional design and development projects?

2.      How has what you have read in this topic challenged you to reflect on your previous experiences?

3.      What have you learnt that would have, or will, assist you in your management processes?

Many years ago I created a CD-ROM for remote students. We limited it to a CD due to bandwidth restrictions etc. for learners who didn’t have high speed internet access. My Head teacher was officially the project manager, but it was mostly up to me to decide what was used and how it was presented. Part of the project guidelines was that I was not to actually create material – just locate it, adapt if necessary, and package it. When I have created learning material, it was just a matter of necessity, not a project as described by Chapman and Nicolet (2003) with project leader, charter, processes and reports. Van Rooij (2010, p854) points out that projects for developing online instruction are often limited by a lack of resources. This explains why my project was so limited. Templates and processes would certainly streamline the process. It would be nice to have graphic designers and media specialists to help create a truly professional product.

When creating the CD-ROM, we inadvertently followed the Analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation (ADDIE) instructional design model. The analysis was not very substantial – more that there was an identified need. The remaining steps were followed, even though we were not aware that we were actually following an identified process. Van Rooij (2010, p858) discusses the benefits of having a project manager with different skills to a subject matter expert or an instructional designer, but when resources are thin these various skills often have to reside in one person. For the size of the projects I have been involved in, I really don’t think project management skills are as important as subject expertise or an ability to work with online tools to create the learning material. As Van Rooij (2010, p.862) says, instructional designers can obtain project management experience on the job.

What I have discovered about doing these projects is that having a process, and planning what needs to be done, are very important starting points. In these times of budget restrictions, where large scale projects are not numerous, it is often only a single person who will be responsible for a small scale project. The best results can be achieved by following processes and guidelines as if it was a large project 

E-tivity 8-1

Kirkpatrick’s model of evaluation has been around for many years.  I have answered many evaluations about whether I enjoyed the training, what I had learnt, and if I would put into practice what had been learnt. These questions address the first three levels on Kirkpatrick’s model. Dick (2007, p.150) says that even Kirkpatrick acknowledges the difficulty of measuring the fourth level of changes in the organisation due to the training. Even the behaviour level can be difficult to measure in the organisation. Despite the most comprehensive learning and best intentions, there can be other factors which influence whether the learning can even be implemented.

In the case of my project, I have designed some learning for using a program called WebDewey. In order to use this, students must also understand the process of number-building in the Dewey Decimal System. Sadly, if a student doesn’t go directly from TAFE to a workplace which uses this program, evaluating for level 4 is unnecessary. Currently some libraries still use Dewey in print, but eventually they will all move online, so it is not unnecessary training.

My introduction to learning Webdewey is at http://librarydiploma.weebly.com/ if anyone would like to see how they go. It is for diploma level students whom we assume have a basic understanding. I would still appreciate feedback from people who may have no experience. You might even learn a bit about Dewey! I encourage you to have a go at the quizzes. I have also created a video to demonstrate how to use the website. This package is only an introduction. I realise there will need to be many more exercises and explanations.

One response to the quizzes was that the student did not have the schedules to answer some of the questions. I have since included the relevant information. This was a bad oversight, since accessing the schedules is what WebDewey is mostly about, and it had not been introduced at that stage. Otherwise the formative evaluation for levels 1 and 2 of Kirkpatrick’s model indicates this foray into online teaching is heading in the right direction with regard to reaction and learning. I’m confident that if the students have learnt successfully and their workplace endorses it, they will use what they have learned (level 3).

Overall:
Level 1: Reaction - Students enjoyed the learning experience.
Level 2: Most people said they learned something, even when they did badly in the quizzes.
Level 3: the students will be applying what they have learnt in further lessons
Level 4: This will depend if the students get work in an appropriate workplace.

References

Dick, W. (2012). Evaluation in instructional design: The impact of Kirkpatrick’s four-level model. In R. Reiser & J. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. 3^rd edn. Merril, New Jersey

Further reading

Chapman, A. (2012) Evaluation in Instructional Design - Kirkpatrick's 4 Level Model . Businessballs.com  (online accessed 18 Aug 2012)

http://www.businessballs.com/kirkpatricklearningevaluationmodel.htm

E-tivity 7.2

E-tivity 7.2

Reflect on your own use of problem-solving learning and do you learn best when presented with a problem.

My own use of problem-solving learning… Working out how to use the mind map software and getting into Second life were both examples of this kind of learning. Sometimes following instructions can be problematic in itself. There can be language difficulties, ambiguities, and outdated links or screen shots just to mention a few problems. Creators of instructions often make assumptions about the knowledge of the users that mean some explanations are left out.  So problem solving is a part of daily life.

Do you learn best when presented with a problem?

My first response was that often when I have to work out how to do something, I can try so many alternatives that when I come back to it, I have forgotten which approach finally worked! When I considered then how I learn by having someone show me something, I believe I do learn better by actually having a go myself, perhaps with some guidance on where to start.

How can you redesign your teaching to include problem-solving?

I implement this in the classroom. Our course is more about people learning how to do things, rather than learning facts. I don’t even expect them to remember the rules of copyright – rather where they should go to look them up and to interpret them. Jonassen (2012) lists many styles of problem solving which we use in our various subjects. We call them nearly all case studies, but when posing problems for copyright, it is really decision making. When asking what should be done when there is equipment failure, we are presenting troubleshooting problems. We have a simulated workplace and a lot of practical work.

 As Jonassen (2012, p.65 ) says there are different problems for different situations. I believe we do “embed learning in an authentic context” (Jonassen, 2012, p68) because we require the students to research, evaluate and analyse their findings before presenting a solution. Using the tools to solve problems (such as WebDewey to assign classification numbers) engages the students with authentic situations that they would use in the workplace, and using it repeatedly reinforces their learning. Even when following the traditional model of teaching content before applying it to solve a problem, we often have the students find the answers rather than just supply the information. Not all subjects are composed of problem based learning, and some have much more complex problems to address than others. It could be a series of problems to answer, or one complex case to complete depending on the topics and required outcomes.

I’m not sure how I could redesign my teaching to include more problem-solving. My lessons on research already begin with – “go to the help button and find out what type of searches a database supports, and what symbols you can use for truncation”. I then get them to so some research. It’s all about learning to learn, and a lot of implicit problem solving already..

Reference

Jonassen, D. (2012) Designing for problem solving, in R. Reiser & J Dempsey (eds) Trends and issues in instructional design and technology, 3^rd edn. Merril, New Jersey. 

E-tivity 7.1

Most of the webquests I found were aimed at primary to high school students. Mrs. Tibbits 9^th Grade English (No apostrophe – so definitely won’t be giving it my students!) was a good basis for what I would have liked. I noticed some of the webquests had a URL of edublogs, so I went to that site and created my own set of pages and links. Originally it was based on Mrs Tibbet’s webquest, but it had changed substantially by the time I had finished. I really wanted to include websites that were more academic and required some interactivity. I’m very pleased with the result, and might rename the ‘steps’ to ‘topics’, expand it a bit more and use it for remote students. According to Dodge (2007,) a “webQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format, in which most, or all, of the information that learners work with, comes from the web”. It seems that a webquest is really using the Internet to provide the lesson outline and materials. It would certainly suit the digital native students of today who would rather click on a link to find a document than be given it as a handout. Providing all the lesson material on the Internet also offers much more in terms of interactivity, videos, audio and so on. It also gives the students some control – they can move on when they are ready, not when the next handout is passed around.

My Information Literacy webquest is at http://narbell3.edublogs.org/

References

Dodge, B. (2007) Webquest.org. San Diego State University. [online. Accessed 2 August 2013]

http://narbell3.edublogs.org/

Tibbets, K. (2011) Mrs Tibbets 9^th Grade English. Sanford high School [online. Accessed 28 July 2013]

http://teacherweb.com/ME/SanfordHighSchool/TibbettsELA9/apt11.aspx

E-tivity 6-2

1.        How, if at all, have your initial thoughts about what flexible learning means been challenged by your reading?

To me, flexible learning has been about being flexible with the delivery of our training package. Perhaps not in all the aspects to which Collis and Moonen (2002) allude: giving the learner choices over where, when, what and how to learn. We have a ‘flexible delivery’ class where students are invited to come in once a week, at a set time, if they want help with particular subjects. There is a set combination of subjects which need to be completed in order to attain the qualification. We have suggested dates for when assessments should be handed in. These are guidelines to help people keep on track, rather than leaving everything until the last minute. The technology allows us to be flexible; we are flexible in the teaching styles and implementation; the institution encourages flexibility, but there are deadlines which need to be met for administrative purposes.

2.        Reflect on a number of learning experiences that you have been involved in and the degree of flexibility which each involved. How did this influence the effectiveness of the learning context?

When I first studied a course by distance education, the flexibility was in when I did my learning. There was no choice of subjects or assignment due dates. There was no extension of due date for people in remote areas, so not everyone had the same time frames. Having set due dates did help to ensure that I was organised and kept doing the learning. I can’t remember anything about access to instructors, although technology allowed phone calls, email and a class forum (which was only new and little used). Another course I did through OTEN was very flexible in timing. I could even nominate when I would do the tests. Many people can’t cope with this much flexibility, because the get caught out when their enrolment expires. Both of these courses relied heavily on texts. OTEN did have videos at times. Pedagogically there was little flexibility. Learners who needed alternate ways of learning were not catered for. The learning context was only effective for a specific type of learner.

3.        In what ways could you use virtual worlds in your instructional context?

Three dimensional learning experiences (3DLEs) “create compelling, visceral, and memorable experiences” (O'Driscoll & Kapp, 2010, p61). A virtual library would be a wonderful solution for teaching the practical aspects of the course to students who cannot attend physically. I imagine it would be possible to create a scenario for students to push a book trolley and shelve items in the correct place, whilst paying attention to WHS issues. TAFE NSW WI (2010) has already demonstrated that role plays can be done for customer service. This is a big area in our course. Using the virtual world could even be done in the classroom with the on-campus students to ensure they are all getting experience in certain situations, and for practice in a safe environment before they have to face real situations. O'Driscoll & Kapp, (2010) also point to the natural emergence of collaboration and peer-to-peer learning which happens in 3DLEs. Teamwork is also vital in libraries, so a virtual world can encompass students from all cohorts to work together, regardless of timetables or distance.

References

Collis, B & Moonen, J (2001) Flexible learning: it's not just about distance, in Flexible learning in a digital world: experiences and expectations, Kogan Page, London

O'Driscoll, T & Kapp, K. (2010) Escaping Flatland. Learning in 3D. Wiley, San Francisco.

TAFE NSW Western Institute (2010)The virtual tourism project. (online accessed 26 July 2013).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh91KbvhCHU